It's kind of a bummer that no one from the boards was going to this rally. Anyway I had a great time and thought I would give a review of the whole thing.

The 21st annual Am-Jam rally was held at the Cobleskill Fairgrounds from May 26th - 29th. They feature bands, contests, vendors and bike shows. Camping spots are available, but there are other accomodations within 10 miles of the grounds.

First and foremost this is not a bring the kids and family for good clean wholesome fun type of rally. While some did bring children, this rally is mainly for adults, in my opinion. This doesn't mean that you can't bring children or that I am suggesting that you don't. I am just informing all those out there that might want to go next year that this isn't really the spot for kids. There is adult humor and entertainment on the grounds. Also, many of the major bike clubs are represented here including several chapters of the Hells Angels. There is drinking and other forms of chemical imbibment, most of which stays in the camp grounds, but it can be found elsewhere.

That said, there were more people this year than last. I can't give exact figures, but the camp ground was nearly all full. There were, however, less vendors this year than last which was slightly dissapointing. There were one or two food vendors that I was looking forward to visiting only to find that they didn't rent there this year. Other than that there were your standard food vendors offering everything from pizza to snow cones. The prices are what you would expect for fair ground food although the cost of drinks was a little steep. There is a beer tent located conveniently across from a strip tent. That's right there are live girl shows. I didn't get a chance to go inside so I don't know if the women were topless or completly nude. Beer was reletively expensive, but since no one checks to see what's brought in from outside you could do better at one of the many convenient store in the village. Be careful though, the speed limit is 25 mph and is strictly enforced by the local Leos.

Other vendors include leather and helmet sales, as well as some slap on parts for motorcycles. There are a couple of patch vendors that will sew, while you wait, the patch of your choice. There are also several tattoo and piercing vendors.

Over the four day period there are several bike shows for best chopper, restoration, paint job etc. These happen near the agricultural buildings on the site. In the main band stand area there are several contests that include riding over several planks, carrying water on your head, a slow race and several others involving two up riding. These make up the bulk of the daily events and entertainment.

In the evening there are bands and several contests. The second night there was an Ac/Dc tribute band called Ballbreaker. They did an ok job at rallying up the audience. It was fortunate for them that mostly everyone was drunk, high or both. They also played through the best legs contest which quickly degraded into a lets see who will get naked contest. Not that I minded, but several of the winners were plants from the stripper tent, which, in my opinion, took away from the whole amateur feel of the event. The contest ended at around 10pm with the band playing up till 11pm after which there was piped in music for the rest of the evening. The music, from what I understand, continues all night long as does the partying on the fairgrounds. There is a constant buzzing of bikes. If you're a light sleeper and not much of a partier you are going to have a hard time getting rest if you camp.

The second day brought more of the same from vendors, but for the evening there was much better music by way of a Lynard Skynard tribute band called Poison Whiskey. While I have never been a huge fan of southern rock, these guys were tight and on. They hit all the popular songs including a thirty minute version of freebird that included a fifteen minute dual guitar solo. These guys were replaced with a not so tight Janice Joplin tribute band. While it took several minutes to figure out that the lead was a woman, once you did you appreciated her throaty and almost errie renditions of Joplin's most famous hits. Unfortunately by the time the wet tee shirt contest was about to start, the other band members had become so intoxicated that they fell apart on almost every song until just the most basic blues riff was played for the contest.

The contest was supposed to be a wet tee shirt contest, but that idea was quickly cast aside for a lets see who will get naked and how far will they go. I must mention at this time that it was around 9pm when the contest started, it was in the mid 50s and it was raining at a pretty good clip. Around 20 women volunteered to take their clothes off with the last three remaining nude for approximately the last 30 minutes of the contest. My hat goes off to them all of them for their ability to brave the conditions. I was clothed in several layers and still froze my ass off. I don't even want to imagine being naked, on stage and in the rain. We left before the end of the contest as I was having a hard time not shaking and it was still a 10 mile ride in the rain back to the hotel.

I want to stress, at this point, that this post is to inform. I am trying to be as honest as possible about the goings on at Am-Jam and while I do enjoy the vendors and the experience I in no way want to offend any of our female posters. I have a deep respect for all of the people that ride and post on this board and it is not now nor has it ever been my intention to offend or worse demean a segment of our riding population. I figured since I posted this rally in the first place it was my responsibility to let everyone know what goes on here so that he or she can make an informed decision to attend next year's rally. If anyone who reads this was offended in any way I offer my deepest apologies since that was never my intention.

That said I had a great time. I met several interesting people saw some crazy machines and ate some crappy and tasty food. I would advise going with a few friends and just kicking back and people watching as this is both the best and cheapest form of enteratainment there. Tickets can be had early, before April 1st, for around $29.00 after that it's $36.00 with gate sales rising to $45.00/ticket or $20.00 for just the afternoon. There are also back stage passes, but those are only offered on E-bay and start around $75.00/auction.